Joint Venture Agreements And Notification To Turkish Competition Authority: Brief Analysis Of Full Functionality

Joint ventures ("JVs") are one of the most frequently used legal vehicles in the business world especially for cross-border operations. JVs can be defined as partnerships whereby two or more real persons or legal entities combine their services and assets with a view to achieving a common purpose. Given its flexibility, the parties forming a JV most of the time enters into a highly detailed JV agreement wherein the rules of such partnership are laid down.

However, competition rules and regulations treat the formation of JVs differently. From the competition practitioners' perspective, JVs have potential anticompetitive aspects and may be used as a vehicle creating or strengthening a dominant position and significantly lessening competition in the markets. Therefore, formation of a JV is treated very similar to a merger or an acquisition of a corporation thus made subject to notifications to the competition authorities.